Obama was referencing the recent revelation by the Vice President's wife, Lynne Cheney, that he and the Vice President are distantly related.

"For the first time in a long time, the name George Bush will not appear on the ballot," he told the crowd of about 500 people at Converse College in Spartanburg.

"The name Dick Cheney, my cousin, will not appear on the ballot," Obama said. "We had been trying to hide that cousin thing for a long time. Everybody's got a black sheep in the family. A crazy uncle in the attic."

soundoff(269 Responses)

In 10 years who will remember Barack Hussien Obama? No one. He is having his 15 seconds of fame. Enjoy it, Senator. In a year you will back in the Senate, doing what you have been doing for a year. NOTHING!

Bubbling underneath the surface, however, is something far more sinister than Hussein Obama being wet-behind-the-ears. His lack of forthrightness about his Muslim background should have all Americans concerned.

An investigation of Hussein Obama's background by his political opponents has revealed that he was raised as a Muslim by his stepfather in Indonesia. He spent at least four years in a Madrassa, or Muslim seminary. A source close to the investigation said "He was a Muslim, but he concealed it."

The conclusions are crystal clear: He concealed his prior Muslim faith and education. In his two autobiographies, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" and "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance"-Hussein Obama makes a brief reference to, but does not expand on his Muslim past, mentioning only that he attended a predominantly Muslim school. Investigation sources said he was given the name Hussein by his Muslim father, which he rarely uses in public.

One wonders why.

The investigation on Hussein Obama zeroed in on his years in Jakarta. After his parents divorced, (his father was black and hailed from Kenya), his mother married an Indonesian student and moved there. Indonesia is considered a moderate Muslim state. However, U.S. intelligence has determined that most of the schools teach Wahhabbi doctrine that denies the rights of non-Muslims, and these schools are financed in large part by the Saudi Arabian government.

This is deeply disturbing.

The investigation into Hussein Obama's background is ongoing, but the evidence uncovered so far seems to indicate that he may still be a Muslim, with ties to Islam. He has made faith an issue in recent months, professing to be a Christian. He supposedly attends Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, but not regularly. One source said "Obama's education began a life-long relationship with Islam as a faith and Muslims as a community. This has been a relationship that contains numerous question marks." Sources indicated that Hussein Obama spent four years in this Madrassa.

Last November, Keith Ellison was elected the first Muslim congressman. He raised eyebrows by insisting on taking the ceremonial oath of office on a Koran.

Those eyebrows were raised for good reason.

Recently, Jaafar Sheikh Idris, founder and chairman of American Open University, a distance learning center based in Alexandria, Virginia and known to local law enforcement as "Wahhabbi Online", denounced the United States' constitutionally limited republic as the "antithesis of Islam" arguing that no man has the right to make laws outside Allah's laws expressed in the Koran. He said "There is a basic difference between Islam and this form of democracy. The basic difference is that in Islam it is [Allah's] law as expressed in the Koran and the Sunna that is the supreme law within the limits of which people have the right to legislate.

"No one can be a Muslim who makes or freely accepts or believes that anyone has the right to make or accept legislation that is contrary to that divine law, "Idris added. "Examples of such violations include the legalization of alcoholic drinks, gambling, homosexuality, usury or interest, and even adoption."

Ellison attempted to placate his detractors by taking the oath of office on a Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson claiming that Jefferson was well aware of the wisdom that could be gained from its teachings.

Ted Sampley, publisher of U.S. Veteran Dispatch, wrote that "there is no doubt Ellison was right about Jefferson believing that wisdom could be 'gleaned' from the Muslim Koran. At the time Jefferson owned the book, he needed to understand everything possible about Muslims because he was about to advocate war against the Islamic 'Barbary' states of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli."

In other words, the reason Jefferson possessed a Koran was so that he could know his enemies.

No man can serve two masters. It is a contradiction for Ellison to have taken an oath to preserve, protect and defend the United States Constitution on a Koran, because Islamic law is in direct opposition to our laws. Who will Ellison serve? He has stated categorically that his Islamic beliefs will play a large part in his decision-making process. He told a group meeting in Detroit recently that "I'm not here to be a preacher, but in terms of political agenda items, my faith informs these things."

When asked which would take priority should a conflict arise, or to describe how the congressman will resolve the differing philosophies provided by the U.S. Constitution and the Koran, which calls for beheading "infidels", he said he could not answer immediately.

It is clear that there is a dangerous situation brewing in our government. If one professed follower of Islam and another who is suspected of it are allowed to serve in elected office, how long will it be before our nation becomes Muslim, like much of western Europe? Will men soon be praying in mosques five times a day? Will women soon be forced to wear burqas?

I find Obama's comments insensitive to Americans with family members suffering from mental disorders. Shame on him for considering this comment to be either funny or appropriate. Shame on those of you who agree with him. You don't treat family this shabbily – even distant family that you disagree with.
Posted By Jim : November 5, 2007 10:54 am

To Jim and all the others who are "upset" that Obama insulted those with mental disorders: you are so insincere you should be ashamed of yourselves and go to seek forgiveness for such hubris and disgusting partisanship and abuse of others. Of course, you won't feel shame. You are simply sick, sad, individuals.

Obama: what an insult, but that's what democrats do well, don't they?
Posted By Teresa Knoxville TN : November 5, 2007 12:54 pm

You people truly are nuts! Read these comments. No, really, read them all and don't ignore the ones where people call a US Senator a "communist" and a traitor, then the racist remarks, don't forget to also read the ones that personally insult "liberals" and Democrats, and of course be sure to read the ones where you insult others' intelligence while citing false news stories and urban legends as 'facts' with a straight face!!

"Two reasons to be a republican":
1)"you are rich & want a tax break
2) you are stupid"

THANKS TO SUNNY IN MIAMI FL FOR POSTING THAT LITTLE BIT OF KNOWLEGE, YOU JUST PROVED MY POINT PERFECTLY, DEMOCRATS DO NOTHING BUT INSULT, THAT'S ALL THEY KNOW!!! by the way, i'm not rich and i know i'm not stupid but i sure LOVE being a republican!!!!

CNN (Corrupt News Network) is always after Ann Coulter when she makes personal attacks on the Democrats. But here we have a case where a elected Democrat, Muslim Obama, makes a personal attack against our VP and where's the outrage? from America's corrupt liberal MSM wolfpack press?? Liberals, once again, show their intolerance............where am i wrong?

Cheney is a patriot and a good man. It is shameful the way the media has unfairly characterized him. And why does the media take aim? Because he is Conservative, targets and fights Islamo Facists, and because he has little, if any, charisma.

Read the posts by "Wayne in Greenville, Texas" on this thread. This is who you are Democrats, I would bet that he is a MoveOn, CNN, Bill Maher, Daily Kos supporter. Comparing OUR Vice-President (yes, he's OUR VP voted not once, but TWICE :))) to Nazi croonies. Nice Wayne, nice.....

C'mon guys, time for you to set these extremists straight. If you want the moderate vote again, shut guys like Wayne up, and tell America you will fight Islamo Facists and mean it.

Cheney was wrong about WMD like a lot of other statements he has made about Iraq. The administration convinced a lot of people from both parties that the military intelligence was right. Statements from Paul O’Neill, Richard Clarke, Bob Woodward, George Tenet, and the Downing Street report all show that Bush wanted an excuse to invade Iraq. Bush showed his usual morality by blaming faulty itelligence and then giving our nation's highest award to George Tenet.

Honestly, who gives a rats butt about Obama, I have no trust in him at all. He would be an appeaser and dangerous. He is the most naive man I have ever seen. To think he has gone this far is astounding.

Let me see... If I said that "Everybody's got a black sheep in the family. wouldn't I be considered a racist.. Shouldn't he cuz the WHITE side of him said that??? And referring to a CRAZY uncle isn't that wrong in saying something about a mental patient.. Yeah if I would have said that... or a white republican..

Richard,
So you're saying he doctored the itelligence report for his own political gain? The same intelligence report that your Clinton, Kerry, Biden, Richardson, Albright and the rest of your party saw? So did president Bill Clinton alter up some intelligence report also when he said "They Will Be All The More Lethal If We Allow Them To Build Arsenals Of Nuclear, Chemical And Biological Weapons And The Missiles To Deliver Them. We Simply Cannot Allow That To Happen. There Is No More Clear Example Of This Threat Than Saddam Hussein's Iraq. His Regime Threatens The Safety Of His People, The Stability Of His Region And The Security Of All The Rest Of Us." Or how about when he ordered a strike on "Iraq's Nuclear, Chemical and Bilogical Weapons progam." I suppose he was concocting a war for political gain too. Come on are you serious?

Cheney is worse than a crazy uncle in the attic. He lied to the american people about WMD's and most everything else to get the american people behind the Iraq war. Prove to me this war is not unjust, and Dick Cheney is not a murderer, who lives in a world that is to powerful to touch.

If he was in Obama's attic he should lock the attic door and throw away the key.

FYI Mr Obama: I'm an independent voter, and while this may help you pander to you base, the continued demonization of someone that some of us still consider a hero from the first gulf war will get you no points. The road to the white house does not go through the left wing, you will need us middle ground people, and it's not wise to go to far and leave disrespectful comments out there us to remember

If the Dems want to have any chance of winning in '08 they need to spend a whole lot less time whining, and a whole lot more time talking about the rational, implementable stuff they intend to do. And Congress needs to actually accomplish some stuff, to demonstrate that they can govern and not just squabble about dumb, pointless resolutions.

Unfortunately, unless the Dems stage a miraculous escape from the clutches of the insane radical left, I don't expect either of these to happen anytime soon.

Is this all the democrats have to offer?
We are suppossed to pick the next leader of the free world based upon insults?
This laser focus on adressing the issues of the day tells us all we need to know about this candidate.

I agree that a presidential candidate needs to be careful about name-calling. It was insensitive for him to use the term, "crazy" in his description. Leave mental illness jokes out of the picture. People struggling with such issues have a hard enough time in our society.

Old Cheney really needs to retire from the VP Post. I know it's late in this administration but he should never have been given the opportunity to be on Bushster's ticket. His health problems were always life threatening. It's just the first of many infinitely bad decisions Dubya made. Of course, the jury is still out as to who in fact chose Cheney to be on the ticket (i.e., the nation's oil/war-profiteering pirates). Cheney likely has always been on heavy cardiac meds and drinks alcohol on hunting trips. Such serious vulnerabilities affect sound decision making and the VP's job performance affects all U.S. citizens. Long-term heart disease (3 heart attacks) means compromised blood flow to the brain. I'm telling you, this guy needs to go before his paranoid mind sends our kids to die in Iran. Halliburton$$$ got what he intended for them, now JUST LEAVE D.C.!

No one has ever claimed that Cheney doctored intelligence reports. The administration just picked and chose those they liked. When Joe Wilson came up with conflicting information, they ignored him and outed his wife. When top economic adviser Larry Lindsey said he thought the war could cost $200 billion, they fired him within 24 hours.

We have had more soldiers killed in a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11 than Americans who died in 9/11. Al qaeda was under control in Iraq until Bush made it easier for them. As analysts pointed out, bin Laden released his first message in a year just days before the American election in a move that clearly helped Bush. Obviously, bin Laden felt he could generate more supporters using Bush as president than a newcomer. After all, it was Bush who said that he wasn't all that concerned about bin Laden.

Cheney hasn't always been wrong. After the Gulf War when they actually knew Saddam had WMD, Cheney said "How many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth? Our judgment was, not very many, and I think we got it right". "Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place? That's a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq, you could very easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off". "It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq.". If only he was smart enough to listen to himself.